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Friday, April 1, 2016

BREAKING NEWS: McGill Drops from Canada Nationals

Due to major new issues that have surfaced over the past week, McGill Quidditch is on its way to San Marcos, Texas to compete in Consolation Cup, rather than Kingston, Ontario for Canada Nationals. While the specifics are not yet known, these issues have undone a season’s worth of trust building between McGill Quidditch and Quidditch Canada.

McGill Quidditch Team | Photo Credit: Nina Patti

The runners up at February’s Eastern Regionals have long been dissatisfied with the management of Quidditch Canada. Recently, those relations seemed to be improving. Consolation Cup reserved spots for international teams wishing to compete, yet few predicted that McGill would ditch Nationals in favor of a tournament for US teams that didn’t qualify for USQ Cup 9.Consolation Cup tournament director Beth Clementi has confirmed that she was contacted a week ago by McGill in a request to leave the door open for their attendance. She has worked with them on flights and restructuring the tournament to accommodate McGill, and while she would not reveal specifics, she would say that she fully supported McGill in this matter.“While it saddens us to leave our friends and competitors at Canada Nationals, as President I have to make decisions with the best interest of McGill Quidditch in mind,” said McGill President, Robyn Fortune. “We were proud of the work we have put in with Quidditch Canada, and are deeply saddened that it has come to this. We are excited at playing top notch talent at Consolation Cup, and look forward to this coming weekend.”Quidditch Canada Executive Director Chris Daw could not be reached for immediate contact.Immediately thereafter, Quidditch Canada Communications Director Clare Hutchinson released a statement exclusively to the Quidditch Post. “If you have a question, a comment, an issue, a concern, a complaint, a quibble, or any other synonyms therein, as someone who also works for Quidditch Canada, I PROMISE you that calling or texting our Executive Director at all hours of the day is not the best way to get it addressed. He's been quite accessible, but he has a life to live on top of all the work he does for all of us, and there have been many quidditch players taking advantage of that accessibility.”

McGill has a long history of competing against American teams, where it attended World Cups II-V and World Cup VII. After competing in Quidditch Canada last year, McGill very publicly attempted to join USQ earlier this year. After registration had already begun, but before McGill formally registered with USQ, an agreement was reached between Quidditch Canada and US Quidditch to prevent Canadian teams from registering with US Quidditch unless they had the previous season. This meant that University of British Columbia Quidditch was able to continue as a USQ-affiliated team, but that McGill, the only other team that had semi-publicly prepared to join USQ, was prevented. A prominent McGill player, who wished to remain anonymous has said that “The events of the past week have really been tough and could affect our relationship with Quidditch Canada going forward. Especially as a Business Communication major, I am astounded at how poorly this has been handled.”